Part 5 (1/2)
_c. cuiltean or milk cupboards._
_d. doors._
_e. farlos or smokehole._
”One of a group of three at the garry of Aird Mhor, close to the sh.o.r.e and near the mouth of Loch Resort, Uig, Lewis. This compound _both_ has evidently been intended for two related families ... but there is no interior communication between the dwellings.” (_Op. cit. p. 144._)]
PLATE IX.--_Compound ”Both” situated near the above._
(From Plate XIV. of Vol. III. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE X.
GROUND PLAN AND SECTIONAL VIEW OF SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN _BOTH_ AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, MEAL NA H-UAMH, MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]
PLATE X.--_”Both” and Underground Gallery at Meall na h-Uamh, Huishnish, South Uist._
(From Plate x.x.xIII. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
”I have next to notice,” says Captain Thomas (_op. cit._, p. 164), ”that form of bo'h, Pict's house, or clochan, whichever name may be adopted by archaeologists, to which a hypogeum or subterranean gallery is attached.... [The present example] is in South Uist, about half a mile inland from Moll a Deas (South Beach); and the Moll is about one mile and a half to the south of Husinish (Husness, _i.e._, Houseness). The site of the bo'h is called Meall na [h-] Uamh, or Cave Lump [more correctly, the Mound of the Cave, or 'Weem.'] It consists of a partly excavated oval dwelling chamber (_a_), 7 feet by 14 feet on the floor; the dome roof has fallen in; there are two _cuiltean_, or niches in the wall. A low curved subterranean pa.s.sage (_b_), about 2 feet square and 20 feet in length, leads into an elongated bee-hive chamber (_c_), 13 feet by 5 feet, and 6 feet high; from thence an entrance (_d_), 2 feet by 2 feet, admits to a small circular chamber or cell (_e_), 5 feet in diameter and 5 feet high. The main pa.s.sage inclines downwards, so that the floor of the second chamber (_c_) is nearly 3 feet lower than that of the first (_a_); and that of the inner one (_e_) a foot below the second (_c_).”
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XI.
GROUND PLAN OF _BOTH_ AND UNDERGROUND GALLERY, OR _TIGH LAIR_, NEAR MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, ISLAND OF SOUTH UIST.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XII.
RESTORED ELEVATION OF ANCIENT BOTH AND SECTION OF HYPOGEUM OR TIGH LAIR, ON THE LINE a, k, NEAR MOL A DEAS, HUISHNISH, SOUTH UIST.
”These piers were about 4 feet high, 4 feet to 6 feet long, and 1 foot to 2 feet broad; and there was a pa.s.sage of from 1 foot to 2 feet in width between the wall and them.”
”On a small, flattish terrace, where the hill sloped steeply, an area had been cleared by digging away the bank, so that the wall of the house, for nearly half its circ.u.mference, was the side of the hill, faced with stone.... The hypogeum or subterranean gallery is on a level with the floor, pierced towards the hill, and is entered by a very small doorway [marked _d_ on Ground Plan, Plate XI.].... It is but 18 inches high and 2 feet broad, so that a very stout or large man could not get in.” (_Op. cit._, pp. 166, 167.)]
PLATES XI. AND XII.--_”Both” and Underground Gallery at Huishnish, South Uist._
(From Plates x.x.xIV. and x.x.xV. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)
”An ancient dwelling, semi-subterranean, exists at Nisibost, Harris [and is described in vol. iii. of the _Proceedings_, p. 140].... A still finer example exists near to Meall na h-Uamh, in South Uist.... The bo'h, or Pict's house, as it would be called in the Orkneys--but the name is unknown in the Long Island--that I am about to describe lies less than half a mile above the shepherd's house; but so little curiosity had that individual that he was entirely unacquainted with it; and I believe it would never have been found by us but for a little terrier (in its etymological sense, of course) of a daughter. The child was only acquainted with the two here drawn [of which the other--viz., _Uamh Sgalabhad_, is here reproduced as Plate I., frontispiece]; but there may be many more waiting the researches of the zealous antiquary.” (Captain Thomas, _op. cit._, p. 165.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIII.
GROUND PLAN AND ENTRANCE OF UNDERGROUND GALLERY AT PAIBLE, TARANSAY, HARRIS.
”The drawing is from a photograph of the entrance, which is 2 feet 10 inches high and 1 foot broad. The sea flows up to it at high tides.”]
PLATE XIII.--_Underground Gallery at Paible, Taransay, Harris._
(From Plate XXIX. of Vol. VII. of _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, First Series.)